A Brain-Computer Interface is defined as "a direct communication pathway between a brain and an external device". OpenBCI features a modular input system that can use local (keyboard, joystick) or network input devices. The system has been tested successfully both with local devices and with Electrooculography signals streamed over the network.

The visual aspect of the application places the user inside a labyrinth. This is a suitable environment for BCI interaction, because:

it is intuitive and simple to explain (i.e. 'find the exit')

it can be navigated with just 3 degrees of freedom ('stay', 'turn' and 'move forward' events)

it allows easy extrapolation to higher degrees of freedom (e.g. 3d occulography may add 'look up/down' or 'move when eyes focused on the far plane' events)

Most aspects of the labyrinth are procedurally generated. The exact layout and geometry is generated during runtime; the high-resolution textures have been generated offline using Genetica and the excellent GIMP image editor.

The labyrinth uses a typical OpenGL 3.0, forward-rendering pipeline. Several shading effects are utilized to create a compelling visual experience: